


Call Signs

by minkmix



Category: Dark Angel (TV)
Genre: Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 03:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18437954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minkmix/pseuds/minkmix
Summary: Radio work is tricky. So is petty theft.





	Call Signs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [my Dark Angel FANZ](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=my+Dark+Angel+FANZ).



“Come in Alpo Lemur Ecky Cha Cha.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the hand held radio.

“That’s ALPHA LIMA ECHO CHARLIE.”

Like Lima and any of the rest of that shit was any better. Max sighed and pressed own the thick rubber button on her walkie talkie. “Whatever Charlie, where are you?”

“Alpha Lima Echo Charlie is at 30-15-58, waiting drop point.”

The way Alec was working it was as if they were about to heist the Hope Diamond. Max sat back against an obliging tree trunk and thought how it was truly strange just when and where Alec would decide it was time for all business and no nonsense. Max supposed that you could take a boy right out of Manticore but you could never really quite shake out all of the Manticore from the boy. It was all a girl could do not to mess with him just a little bit.

“Roger that, it will be comin’ along soon, keep your pants on.” Max smiled as she thought of the look that was certainly on Alec’s face. “I mean, stand by.”

Max had never been a big fan of technology. Ironically being a product of some of the finest and most advanced in the entire world, she had never found much use for it. Her apartment had a ten year old dusty laptop that she never checked her e-mail on. Every outside attempt to encourage her to purchase a cell phone ended in frustration and failure. She didn’t even have a microwave.

But these heavy clumsy hand held things? She liked them just fine. She hefted hers in her palm, liking the ridiculous size and weight of it. What government operative would have their satellite GPS cellular tuned in to an old ATIS frequency with less than a .5 km broadcast range? Not one of them. Those guys wouldn’t know a double A battery if one came up, slapped them in the face and then did a little dance.

It worked just fine for her. She knew exactly where Ecky Cha Cha was, and she knew that no one important was listening.

“AlphaLimaEchoCharlie to MikeAlphaX-ray.”

These goddamn call signs were taking more time to relay than the actual information needed. And considering they were the only two people using the freaking frequency, carefully identifying each other was not exactly all that necessary.

“You got something?” She asked impatiently.

“Affirmative, target in sight, repeat target on route, will be at base point in 2.5 minutes. Over.”

Max bit down as she smiled, getting up and brushing herself off.

“What would that be in about milliseconds?”

“150,000.” Came the immediate reply.

“Hours?”

“0.04—“

“To the third place please.” Max requested. Time was as always, somewhat of an issue.

“Oh uh, 0.041.”

“How about years?” Max eased on her gloves and cracked her knuckles, the far off glint of headlights coming her way.

“0.0000048—hey, now yer just fuckin’ with me and not only is it uncalled for, well, it’s just rude.” The radio clicked again to add: “Over.”

She tossed the hand held into the clump of bushes she’d been comfortably seated in while she had been waiting by a road. It wasn’t a very busy road. It was a two lane access route that lead to the back of an old strip mall. Only the delivery drivers used it. And the managers that collected the days earnings usually came home to roost late at night.

And just like Alec had called it, there came her mark 0.0000048 years later, the headlights finding her in the middle of the street and screeching on the brakes to avoid running her over.

A young man stumbled out. His Pizza Planet baseball hat covered a mop of hair greasier than their product, his striped delivery shirt was half unbuttoned, but most importantly, the money belt he wore was in plain sight.

“Holy cow lady, are you okay? I almost didn’t see—“

“Now, I don’t want you to go to all that trouble locking up all of that in the vault.” She explained with a look down at the fanny pack made safety box. “I really don’t want to bother having to break into it later.”

His face went from startled to shocked but he immediately started to fumble at the belt at his waist. There was no weapon but Max was glad that the kid was smart enough not to risk it on some corporate guy’s income. And what an income it was.

Especially on the night of the World Series. Who could resist a few extra larges and some hot wings on this night of nights?

The kid tossed it to her and she quickly flipped through the wads of gloriously unmarked plain cash. She took a good amount of it and slipped it into one of the money clips. She tossed the token back.

“Keep your tips.” She winked.

“Max-- Wha-What?? What are you doing!”

Alec had caught up with her. Upon his black ninja and Kevlar appearance, the kid’s hands went up towards the sky like it was a good old fashioned hold up. Alec waving a gun around didn’t help much.

“I-I-I I gave it all to her, I-I-I—“

“You, just relax, you did great.” Max assured the kid as she turned to find her motorcycle out in the darkness of the roadside. “And put that thing away Lima Charlie, yer gonna hurt somebody.”

Alec followed her, holstering his wholly unneeded piece. He made sure to cast a very narrowed and angry menacing look back at the frightened kid with the money clip.

“That was ours ya know.” Alec mumbled as he got on the bike behind her. “We waited forever --

“We waited 30 minutes.”

“--for that little bastard to show and we still have five more take out places to hit before some sector cop starts poking around and then we’ll have to start playing tag with the sector check points and I really don’t wanna end up in Sector 6 tonight because hey do you remember that girl, whatsshername, oh yeah, Rebecca—“

“Can it Alpo.” Max told him as she turned the engine.

“Yeah yeah, ha ha. Can. Alpo. Can of Alpo. Hilarious.”

With a sigh, Alec slipped his hands tight around her waist as she took off over the curb and sped through the first red light.

“Hey Max?” He half shouted to her over the engine noise.

“What?”

“This next time, can I be MadDogTwo?”

He took her lack of response as refusal.

“No no, get it? That makes you MadDogOne.”

“Sure Alec.”

She leaned down and shifted gears to pick up some real speed.

“Whatever gets you there.”


End file.
